There is a mighty White Isle
challenge awaiting the 80 athletes due to be lining up on the sands of
Figueretes Beach on Sunday morning, as the elite action of the World Triathlon
Multisport Championships Ibiza comes to a close with the 2023 Long Distance
Triathlon World Championships.
It’s a 3km swim around Isla Ratas
that gets the action underway, heading into a 116km bike and then a 30km run
through the Old Town rounding off at the Port d’Eivissa. The course looks like
a classic, the fields are stacked, and you can watch it all play out on
TriathlonLive.tv from 8am local time.
Women’s preview
Britain’s Kat Matthews arrives as a
firm favourite to podium on her first taste of blue carpet action since taking
the European Middle Distance title in 2019. Winning silver at the 2021 Ironman
World Championships was an enormous performance on debut, but a horrific
training accident just weeks before the 2022 championships left her future in
the sport looking anything but certain.
Fast forward to this year and a
remarkable recovery means that the 32-year-old heads into Ibiza off the back of
a brilliant win in Texas and ready to stake her claim on the world title.
Standing in her way is a cast of talent that includes rising French star
Marjolaine Pierre (FRA), just 23-years-old but with the 70.3 Bahrain title and
recent win in Cannes to head into Ibiza full of confidence.
She is a Duathlon World Champion,
ten-time World Cup winner, has transitioned successfully to long-course racing
and few would bet against Japan’s Ai Ueda pulling out something extraordinary
on Sunday if she can keep the leaders in sight out of the swim.
A Kona Age Group champion-turned-pro,
Ruth Astle (GBR) was fifth in the 2021 IM World Championships and won her first
IM in nearby Mallorca that same year and, along with Danish legend Camilla
Pedersen who returns to challenge for the title she won back in 2014, will pack
a major medal threat.
Men’s preview
With his 70.3 titles into double
figures, Joshua Amberger touches down in Ibiza looking to go one better than
his silver at the Penticton championships back in 2017. An exceptional swimmer,
the Australian will hope to stretch things out during the swim to try and blunt
the impact of Joe Skipper’s impressive bike power on a course that is sure to
suit, and it could all set up a thriller of a finish to the run on the edge of
Ibiza Town harbour.
Richard Varga (SVK) should also be
one of those dictating the early pace with his swim prowess, as could the
silver medallist in 2021 Jesper Svensson (SWE), who was fastest through the
water in Almere.
Belgian Christophe de Keyser
continues to bridge well into longer distance racing after a full short-course
career, Canada’s Cody Beals might just be able to utilise his remarkable run
power to golden effect if he finds himself close enough to the front off the
bike to deploy it.
For the home nation, Antonio Benito
Lopez will be eyeing what would be a popular podium, last year’s European
Middle Distance champion will have had a taste of racing in Ibiza from his
duathlon world championships appearance last Saturday, national champion Victor
Arroyo Bugallo likewise could feed off the crowd and deliver a career-defining
display.
For the full start list, click here https://www.triathlon.org/events/start_lists/2023_world_triathlon_multisport_championships_ibiza?mc_cid=330790205d&mc_eid=6139649918
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
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